


Stuck

by mountain_ash



Series: Things I Write on Tumblr dot com [11]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Cursed Derek, Ficlet, Mild Gore, Mutual Pining, Season 5A, Wolf!Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 05:32:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5900194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mountain_ash/pseuds/mountain_ash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wolf that chases Mason and Liam into the school isn't Theo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eeyore9990](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eeyore9990/gifts).



> Originally on [tumblr](http://a-mountain-ash.tumblr.com/post/150044717070/i-wrote-this-one-for-eeyore9990-i-think-you)!

He could see them, Liam and Mason, walking through the parking lot of the school bickering as they approached a car. Stiles wasn’t with them, but the air hung heavy with his scent and Derek suddenly realized it was coming from Theo. They must have been together recently, and the wolf bared his teeth and growled in frustration.

“Woah. Did you hear that?” Mason asked before turning to stand face to face with the wolf.

It lunged then, and they began tearing back into the school.

‘Why are they running?’ The wolf wondered as they broke through the school doors and his claws began scrabbling for purchase on the tile. Suddenly Liam turned, partially shifted, and roared a fearful sound. Derek slid to a halt and ran, not because he was afraid but because he knew it was futile. Liam didn’t recognize him.

Derek turned tail and fled out and back through the parking lot towards the preserve. His full shift senses were stronger than he’d realized and what he had thought was Stiles with Liam was really just the boy’s scent on Liam. Nose high in the air, Derek relocated that unforgettable smell in the air and followed it straight to the boy’s house. It should have occurred to him to try here from the beginning but his wolf brain didn’t work on quite the same logic and it was deteriorating rapidly.

From the sound of it, Stiles was up in his room scrawling away on his board. Anxiety and frustration radiated off him and Derek wrinkled his nose at the rancid scent. Much as he wanted to see the boy, braving the stench was heroic at the least. The other problem lay in his inability to actually enter the house, given his current lack of opposable thumbs with which to climb the traditional tree. Were the Sheriff not home he would have attempted to ring the doorbell, but that was not an interaction he had the energy to face, but he could feel his human thoughts fading away and he needed help soon.

Coming to his resolution, Derek wrapped himself in a tight ball near the front door and slept until he knew Stiles would emerge for school the next day. He tried to sleep anyway, but he could hear and smell all the boy’s nervous energy and it pervaded his senses with a relentless force that kept him from anything but an occasional doze.

Morning eventually came and with it, the sounds of Stiles’s sleep addled movements throughout the house. Derek’s ears perked up as the sounds moved more purposefully toward the front door and he sprung to all fours when the door opened and Stiles stepped forth, only to freeze in place when his eyes met those of the wolf standing before him.

They stood their ground for seconds or minutes, Derek’s wolf brain wasn’t sure anymore, before Stiles slowly lowered himself into a crouch.

“Derek?” He asked slowly, his voice rough and weary. “Derek, is that you?”

The wolf’s eyes glowed blue and he lunged forward to stab Stiles’s stomach with his nose. If the boy could figure out how to reverse this, he might be embarrassed about that later, but in the moment it didn’t matter.

“Why are you like this? Are you stuck?”

Derek nodded his head and Stiles burst out laughing, though whether at the sight of a wolf nodding or his current predicament, Derek wasn’t sure. Knowing Stiles, likely both.

“But how?”

This was conveniently the only thing Derek had under control, thanks to Braeden. Before she’d been captured anyway. He lifted his head to reveal the film canister tied around his neck with a piece of twine. It had been uncomfortable, but the sensation of the fiber digging through his fur was a constant reminder he still had the solution tied to his body.

Stiles pointed at it in that way of his that could be so dense, even though he was so clever, as if asking the obvious question of ‘you want me to take that?’ Derek snorted and pawed at Stiles’s knee impatiently.

“Okay, okay, Big Guy. Let’s see.”

The feeling of his long fingers brushing against Derek’s fur as Stiles untied the twine was almost intoxicating and Derek found his tail thumping happily against the ground before he could stop it. Stiles chuckled again and Derek found he didn’t mind so much this time. The boy’s face was haggard and sad, but that went away when he laughed.

Stiles finally got the twine free and Derek had to resist the urge to whine when he pulled his hands away. As soon as the boy pulled the tightly wound sheaf of paper free from the canister and began reading it, however, he let his free hand return to scratching one of Derek’s ears absently.

“It’s in Spanish. You’re the one who speaks Spanish! I hardly know any.” He sighed dejectedly before brightening a little. “Can you still read?” The wolf nodded. “Okay. I’m going to translate it the best I can, and if I get it right, you bark, if I’m wrong, you poke. Okay?” Derek barked, playing along. “I guess I’m skipping. Good thing Dad’s still home.”

Stiles stood and walked back into the house, waiting for the wolf to follow before shutting the door behind him.

“Dad! Derek’s here!”

The Sheriff popped excitedly out from the kitchen, but sagged when he saw the wolf.

“Hey there, Derek. I take it this isn’t a personal choice.” Derek shot him the most unimpressed look a wolf’s features could manage and the Sheriff chuckled. “I’ll call the school. Just make sure you get your work finished once you’ve got this worked out.”

“Thanks Dad.”

Back in his room Stiles sank down onto the floor with his Spanish-to-English dictionary and a notebook before him and Derek curled warmly around one of his legs, eyes glued to the parchment. Stiles worked slowly through the sheet, sentence by sentence, each successful translation only recognized after several alternating barks and pokes. The process was long and Stiles took numerous breaks to grab coffee, take his Adderall, and dump some leftover chicken into a bowl for Derek.

The wolf nipped playfully at Stiles when he was presented with the dogbowl Stiles still had from years long past when his mom had convinced his dad to get a puppy, only to discover she was severely allergic. Stiles simply chuckled and ruffled the soft fur between Derek’s ears, teasing that he would never have another opportunity so golden.

Hours later the translation was complete and Stiles looked over his work proudly before really getting to the task of understanding it.

“So basically you were cursed by a coven of Mexican witches who trapped you in your wolf form and the only way you can undo it is to find a human that will willingly let you bite them and drink their blood?”

Derek nodded.

“Huh. These witches didn’t bank on you having a human friend, did they?” Nose poke. “You remember I’m squeamish though right?”

Derek jabbed him in the stomach harder than necessary but then nodded patiently, fully remembering the numerous occasions Stiles had nearly fainted at the sight of blood.

“I’m going to ask you a completely legitimate question and you don’t get to give me that judgy face.” Derek pawed acquiescently at his knee. “Will you let me brush your teeth first? I know I can’t get diseases from you, but I have no idea what kinds of rabid animals you may have eaten.”

If looks could kill, Stiles would have died on the spot but after a few bitter moments Derek simply bared his teeth in permission. He jumped up and out to the bathroom, wolf in tow, where he grabbed a spare toothbrush and some toothpaste. The process was more complicated than expected, no thanks especially to Derek constantly spitting the toothpaste out into the toilet, but eventually the job was done and Stiles was satisfied he’d sanitized as much as he could.

They sat still for a while and Stiles looked awkwardly around himself before grabbing a towel out of the closet and bunching it up in his hands anxiously. Derek whined a little before licking one of his hands, acutely aware of the boys rising discomfort.

“Um. Wh-where did you bite your betas when you turned them?” Derek quirked his head to the side, an inquiring expression on his face before he dipped his head forward and nudged Stiles’s right side. “Huh. That’s where Peter bit Scott.”

Derek nodded aggressively. He had always appreciated how perceptive Stiles had always been.

“Is that a Hale thing or something?” He chuckled a bit when Derek licked his hand again in confirmation. “Alright then. Let’s do this.”

Stiles pulled his sweater off before laying down on the towel and preparing another in his hand. Derek poked the spot he was preparing to bite, hoping Stiles understood he was asking for some final permission. The boy nodded. “Go ahead.”

Piercing the pale skin with his teeth was perhaps the most unpleasant thing Derek had ever done. This wasn’t like turning his betas or protecting Scott from Mrs. Argent. This was Stiles- skinny, defenseless Stiles- who served to gain nothing from this painful experience, yet here he was offering himself wholly once again to the supernatural cause and Derek didn’t know what to make of it. As he pondered that thought, the warm blood full of the pure humanness he needed to break the curse flooded into his mouth. He barely had the chance to register Stiles’s pained groans when the pain of the shift took over his body and he recoiled from the boy in spasms.

“Derek? Derek are you okay?”

Stiles sounded scared but Derek couldn’t make sound come out of his shifting vocal cords. The process took some indeterminate amount of time before suddenly Stiles’s voice was entering his ears at a normal human volume and he could feel a towel draped over his lap with bare human skin.

“Stiles?” His voice was harsh and unused as he tested it but he didn’t need to be too loud, as Stiles was right beside him.

“You okay? Everything feeling normal?”

The werewolf took a second to take stock of his limbs, but it didn’t take long to figure out that at least in the moment he was completely normal.

“I think so. Everything feels normal. How are you? Has the bleeding stopped?”

“Yeah, I got it bandaged and everything. I’ll just go to Melissa if it gets infected.”

Derek scoffed. “Well with the tooth brushing you gave me, you at least won’t be getting any rabies.”

Stiles slapped his arm with the back his hand. “Shut up. The defenseless human has the right to worry about those things.”

Derek looked away at that mention and his shoulders tensed.

“Woah, what’s that about?” Stiles asked at the gesture.

“You’re the defenseless one but you’re always the one giving parts of yourself and not getting anything back from it.”

Stiles didn’t respond immediately, instead settling himself down on the floor in front of Derek and looking the man directly in the face.

“Derek, if you being human wasn’t important to me, I wouldn’t have recognized you as a wolf.”

Derek looked back up at him shyly. “I’m important?”

Stiles lips curled into a tiny, private smile. “More than you know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments always appreciated and come visit me on [tumblr](http://a-mountain-ash.tumblr.com/)!


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